Sour Apples (A SotDW story)
by KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: Sora and Jonny both like Alex. A lot. After she unknowingly orders a poison apple from The Candy Cauldron, she puts both boys in danger, and must choose which one she truly wants. Takes place between stories 5 and 6 of Secrets of the (Disney) World.
1. Chapter 1

Alex held a bag of merchandise from the World of Disney store as she and her friends Spinelli and Gretchen walked into the West Side of Downtown Disney. A little ways behind them trudged Ortensia the Cat, holding her own load of bags, all of them filled with toys for her four hundred and twenty children.

As the girls walked into the West Side, a large sign caught the attention of Alex. It was just above a storefront that sat in a small section between a number of other stores. It wasn't the store's name or what it sold that caught her attention, but who was on the sign. The old witch from _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ held an apple with a skull face above a bubbling cauldron with multicolored liquid. She noticed a banner in the store window that said, "Best Candy Apples in Walt Disney World".

Even though she was slightly intrigued by the store, she remembered that the boys waited for them at DisneyQuest, and decided that she'd look into it another time. Sadly, that wouldn't be the case. As she continued to walk by, she heard someone behind her take in a whiff of the sickeningly sweet smell that came through the shop's doorway. Then, she heard Spinelli say, "Hey, this place smells good."

The raven-haired girl had come to a stop in front of the store, peering into one of the windows. Alex came up behind her, and the two of them watched as candied apples were being prepared in a show kitchen. Gretchen came up behind them, and Spinelli continued,

"That looks delicious. I think I'm going to go in there and buy one."

"Well, we haven't made our usual stop at Goofy's. It wouldn't hurt to stop in." Alex said. "Besides, those apples sure look good."

"The Candy Cauldron." Gretchen said, reading the sign. "I don't believe I've heard of this place."

"Well, it's something new. Let's go check it out." Spinelli said, reaching for the door handle. She prepared to pull it open, when a loud scream stopped her in her tracks.

"Ashley Funicello Spinelli!" cried Ortensia, using the girl's full name. "What in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing?" She quickly ran up to the girls and dropped her haul on the ground in frustration.

"Don't call me that!" Spinelli growled.

"Well? What do you think you're doing?" the cat repeated herself, ignoring the girl's complaint.

"We were just going to take a look in here, Ortensia. And maybe get some candy. We'll only be a minute." Alex said.

"Don't you know what store this is? Couldn't you tell by the sign?"

"It's a candy store, like Goofy's. What's the big deal?" Spinelli asked, her hand still ready to open the door.

"Do you not see who's on the sign?"

"The witch from Snow White." Gretchen said. "Probably just to market the store."

"She's the store's owner! And she won't want you girls in there as customers, after all you've done. Let's continue to DisneyQuest."

"What would she do to us if we just stopped in? After all, turning us away turns down business." Alex said.

"Who knows what she'll do? She may very well add something to your candy."

"I'm guessing that rules out buying anything." Spinelli sighed, looking longingly at one of the apples in the store window.

"Anything made fresh in the store. I'm sure we can buy prepackaged candy." Gretchen said.

"If you were to go in there." Ortensia said. "Just stick with candy from Goofy's. I don't think it's safe to buy anything from there."

"Well, can we at least look around?" Alex asked, looking at Ortensia.

"What about the boys? Jordan just sent me another message asking me when you'd be there."

"Five minutes. That's all we want. Five minutes to look around."

"And you won't buy anything?"

"Nothing. We promise. Right, Spin?"

"Right." The girl sighed, disappointed.

"All right, five minutes. I'll be in the silver shop next door. In five minutes, I'll be right out here. Be ready to go, or I'll have to come in there and pull you out." Ortensia picked up her bags and turned to the nearby shop. Before going in, she turned back to the girls and said,

"Remember, five minutes!"

"We've got it!" Alex said. As soon as Ortensia had gone into the other store, she quickly walked up to the door of the Candy Cauldron and opened it. The three of them walked inside.

The store's small interior was themed like a castle dungeon. Several displays of prepackaged candy were scattered throughout the room, the center one having a large figure of Queen Grimhilde on top, with another figure of the evil witch from the sign on the flipside of it. The rest of the store consisted of the show kitchen and registers.

Bypassing bags of fudge and chocolate covered pretzels, Alex casually strolled up to the counter and snagged an order form for a custom apple. Gretchen noticed.

"I thought we weren't buying anything." She said, looking at the form in Alex's hand.

"I just wanted to see what they put on apples. I'm not going to buy one." Alex replied, quickly slipping the form into her bag.

"Don't suppose poison's on the menu, is it?" Spinelli joked as she came up beside them.

Alex laughed. "Nope. Just apples and candy."

"I really think Ortensia was overreacting a bit. No one would let the witch get away with selling poisoned apples in a store." Gretchen said.

"Yeah. I bet it'd be harmless to have one of the apples." Alex said.

"So, why not buy one?" Spinelli asked, looking at the other two girls, a mischievous grin forming on her face.

"Spin, are you crazy? We told Ortensia we wouldn't buy anything. If we walk out of here with any food at all, she'll smell it and toss it right out there. Money right down the drain."

"We can have it delivered to the hotel." Gretchen said, though she covered her mouth moments later.

"Not you too, Gretch."

"C'mon, there's no trouble in buying a silly little apple. It's like you said, why would it be poisoned?" Spinelli continued.

"Well, you've got a point. I'll go ahead and order an apple." Alex said, taking another order form.

"We'll go ahead and tell Ortensia we're going to DisneyQuest, and that she can meet us there. Once you've ordered the apple, you can run on over."

"Ok. I'll see you guys there."

She watched as Spinelli and Gretchen headed out the door and over to the silver shop. Then, she turned her attention to ordering the apple.

After checking off what she wanted: a caramel coated apple with chocolate chips and multicolored sprinkles, she wrote down what she thought was her own name and hotel room number on the order form. As she handed the form to the clerk, she realized that they shouldn't leave the boys out too, so she ordered them an apple as well, writing down their names and room number on the form. Then, she paid the clerk ten dollars for both apples, and quickly left the store and headed to DisneyQuest.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen of The Candy Cauldron, a confectioner was busy preparing to start Alex's orders. Queen Grimhilde, in her hag form, brushed by this particular worker on her way to the storefront and noticed the names on the two forms. An idea in mind, she tapped the employee on the shoulder and said in a grandmotherly voice, "Would you mind, dearie, if I did these orders?"

"Of course not, ma'am. I'll go check on the store for you." The employee said, heading out to the store front.

"Excellent dear. Now, let's see….."


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, the whole group was at the Downtown Disney bus station. Alex sat beside Sora, the two of them examining each other's drawings from the art station at DisneyQuest.

"Hmm, his ears are a little too far to the left…." Alex said, looking at Sora's somewhat crude picture of Mickey. "And let's not even touch on how far apart his eyes are."

"Hey, the King's ears are hard to draw!" came the reply.

"Well, if he's looking straight at you, his ears shouldn't be on the left side like that. There should be one on each side; they shouldn't be right next to each other." Alex handed the picture back to him. "Other than that, it's fine."

"Well, okay. Let's see your picture of Pluto." Sora said, taking the picture back from her and then looking at the one she'd handed him earlier.

"Hmm….the outline looks kind of wobbly. Is Pluto scratching himself in this picture?"

"No! I just….don't have a steady hand when I draw."

"It makes it look like he's standing in the middle of an earthquake."

"All of my art looks like that. Jordan calls it 'ShakeArt'."

"It's 'QuakeArt', sis." Her twin brother called from the next bench over.

"'QuakeArt', 'ShakeArt', whatever." Alex called back. "It all looks wobbly." She sighed as she hung her head.

"It's better than mine." Sora offered, trying to cheer her up.

"Anything's better than that!" Spinelli said from over his shoulder. She was sitting next to T.J. and Jonny on the bench behind them. "A Kindergartener…no, a _bunny child_, could draw better than that!"

"Hey, I was just trying to cheer her up!" Sora said with a frown. Alex laughed.

"It's ok. I already know that art isn't my forte…" She looked at Sora's picture again. "And it isn't yours either."

"Well, your picture is still better than mine. I like it." Sora handed her drawing back.

"I like your picture too." Jonny said from over Alex's shoulder.

"I'm glad you both like it." she looked at Sora and then Jonny. "And, it's nice to know that someone on that bench appreciates how I draw."

"Hey! I didn't say anything about your picture." Spinelli said suddenly, looking back over the bench again. "But, since you brought it up: a bunny kid could draw better than that."

"Thanks." Alex huffed.

"You asked for it."

A little while later, a bus came to take them back to the Art of Animation resort. Alex walked with her brother and Sora onto the bus. Jonny, who had been walking with Hadji, started to push his way through T.J.'s gang to try and follow her.

""Scuse me!" he said, sliding between Gus and Mikey.

"Jonny, where are you going?" Hadji asked.

"I have something I want to talk to Alex about, Haj."

"What?"

"You-Know-What." Jonny said, sliding by Spinelli.

"Hey, no cuts Blondie!" Spinelli said, glowering at him.

"I need to talk to her about something." Jonny motioned towards Alex.

"Is it so important that you have to push right by me like that?"

"Well, I want to sit near her so that I can tell her."

"Maybe I wanted to sit by her."

T.J., who had been on the steps, spoke up. "She's kind of surrounded."

Jonny quickly brushed past him and climbed into the bus, only to see Alex sitting between her brother and Sora. She was talking to Sora about something.

"Aw man, I can never talk to her without him around." Jonny muttered, sitting across the aisle from Alex.

'Who?" Hadji sat down beside him.

"Sora. He's always with her."

"More like she's always with him. She really likes hanging out with him."

"Yeah. But I want to talk with her, about _it_. Alone."

"Maybe you should wait until we get to the hotel."

"Okay. As soon as we get there, I'll ask her if she'll sit and talk with me."

"Sounds like a good plan."

The "It" Jonny was talking about was his crush on Alex. He hadn't been able to muster up the courage to tell her how he felt, and the fact that she was with Sora most of the time didn't help matters. Only today had he decided that he should try to tell her, but it seemed like every chance he got, Sora was always there. The boy's constant presence annoyed him. But if he was able to get Alex to talk with him, he'd be able to tell her, without Sora around to hear.

Meanwhile, Sora was listening as Alex talked about how Ortensia had tried to keep them from going into the Candy Cauldron. As he listened to her talk, his mind wandered off and he started thinking about whether or not he should tell her what he was feeling; how he really liked her. Roxas, his Nobody, heard these thoughts and decided to add his own two cents.

_"Just go ahead and tell her."_ He heard Roxas say.

"But what if she doesn't feel the same way?" he thought-said.

"_Really? She hangs out with you a lot, why wouldn't she?"_

"Maybe she just likes my company."

_"Yeah, right."_

"What about Kairi?"

_"Well, you could-" _Roxas was suddenly cut off.

"Sora, you okay?" It was Alex. Both she and Jordan were watching him.

"Huh?" Sora snapped out of his thoughts.

"You looked like you were spaced out, is everything ok?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about something."

"Oh, ok." She turned to her brother and began talking with him.

_I wish it was easier to tell her._ He thought.


End file.
